


damned inheritance

by ifori



Category: Free!
Genre: (it's so mundane and unbeta'd atm....), (rating to go up), (tags/characters to be added), Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-04-03
Packaged: 2018-03-20 10:15:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3646485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ifori/pseuds/ifori
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haru is twenty three when he inherits an adult club from a relative he's never even met and one of the workers is a lot more than he bargained for...</p><p>--</p><p>also known as 'don't talk to me about au's on twitter because i do this...'</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. prologue

Nanase Takeshi. Uncle Takeshi.

No matter how hard Haruka muses over such a name, he can’t associate a face with it, let alone a family member. He doesn’t remember receiving a card from such a man after his graduation, nor could he envisage such a character at his past twenty-three birthday parties.

Not that it mattered who he was now, as Haruka had gotten a text at 7:46am informing him of this distant relative’s passing. Not two minutes later his phone illuminated his face again, informing him that his parents were already en route to his place. It was urgent, apparently.

Begrudgingly, he fell into the doting son, excellent host and saddened relative roles.

Apparently, it had all come together better and more convincingly than he thought, as his mother smiles gently at him as he hands her the coffee mug. His father’s reaction is more subdued; he hadn’t taken his mug at all, leaving Haruka to place it on the table. 

Now he feels bad that this Uncle’s death hasn’t really afflicted him that much, when his parents, mainly his father, are so struck by it.

“Sorry we’re here so early,” his mother mumbles eventually, a comment that Haruka waves away. His parents never burdened him, they were the reason he lived so well, and their constant travelling meant that they could turn up at three a.m. and Haruka would still welcome them in.

“It’s fine, you said it was urgent. I was hardly going to ask you to wait…” she chuckles at that.

“Yes, well,” his father finally turns away from the large window, strolling across the room to sit beside Haruka, “my older brother was always in a hurry, how fitting.” Haruka reasons he was allowed a small smile, feeling overcome with relief when his father returns it.

So, Takeshi was his father’s elder brother? Why had Haruka never even heard of him?

“Are you both going to stay here?” Haruka asks, deducting that would be the only possible reason they’d travel so far – and away from other family members – to visit him, “Not that I mind-.” A hand claps against his thigh and he is silenced.

“That’s very thoughtful of you, Haruka. But, no, that’s not why we’re here,” his father speaks and Haruka looks at him, “in fact, we came to give you this.”

As though they’d rehearsed this, his mother places her coffee down to look inside her bag on the floor beside her, she pulls out a folded up piece of paper only moments later.

With a raised brow and heavy caution, Haruka takes it from her. The room lapses into silence as he unfolds it and begins to read, his expression becoming more confused with each line that enters his brain.

“These are deeds?” His mother nods, an act he deems very unhelpful, so he looks back to his father, “Deeds for what? Why are they in my name?”

“Your uncle left his business to you.” His father replies bluntly. It was such a simple sentence, but once Haruka picked it apart it held a lot of information that he wasn’t sure he could handle, shakily, his breath leaves him. Mr. Nanase must sense there isn’t going to be a reply any time soon, so he continues, “His only other option was me, and I travel far too much to run a business downtown.”

“Downtown?” Haruka’s voice comes clumsily tumbling out again, “What work did he do downtown?” When his father shrugs, Haruka feels more lost than he has ever done in his entire life.

“We don’t know. But that,” his father taps the paper, “is the most prized thing he owned, and now it’s yours.”

Suddenly hit with the intensity of this whole situation, Haruka scoffs. “I’m twenty-three, I can’t have my own business!” A small part of Haruka was telling him to sell it on, to an older, experienced businessman, but he knew that wasn’t an option. He wouldn’t earn a reputation amongst his family as the boy who tossed away Takeshi’s livelihood just because he couldn’t handle it. His hands grip the paper tighter.

“All the legal stuff has been taken care of,” his mother piped up, covering his hand with her own, trying to offer comfort, “You just have to… carry everything on, I guess.” Her voice lilts slightly and Haruka can tell she’s smiling, his father grabs his shoulder and squeezes reassuringly and instantly he is calmed. As big as this was, his parents clearly believe he was more than capable of it, and who knows, maybe it was one of those businesses that practically ran itself, Haruka would do no work but be set up for life… as lazy as it was, it is what he wants. 

Maybe he could take up painting again…

“And another thing,” The boy’s stomach plummets, has he inherited a small child too? Perhaps his uncle has left him nineteen dogs to cater for? “You’re expected to go down there later, around three, to speak to the staff and work things out.”

It’s a task Haruka believes he’s capable of. He wants to look at the place anyway and it’s not as though he has anything to tell the – his staff, he just needs to introduce himself.

“I could come with you, if you wanted?” His father offers helpfully and Haruka can’t deny that he was grateful, but this is his responsibility now, he is an adult set on making his parents proud.

Checking the address, Haruka shakes his head, looking between his parents reassuringly. “No, thank you. I’ll be fine.”

***

In the empty train cart, Haruka studies the small scrap of paper for the nth time, but he’s certain this is the right train and that he’s going the right way. Downtown is an entirely new world to Haruka, having only moved into his current place after graduation just under a year ago, but it’s a warm, calm afternoon, and that alone eases him.

The young man takes the, surprisingly short, route from the train station to his destination, easily spotting the crowd of people outside from down the street. Haruka takes a deep breathe and approaches them,

“Hello,” his voiced cracks awkwardly, but he’s quick to clear this throat when they all turn to look at him.

Altogether, there’s about eighteen of them and they’re mainly women, Haruka notes. He also notes how they all appear to be older than him; they’ll probably not be too pleased about their boss being a kid fresh out of university who’s had a business handed to him on a plate.

“Hello!” One of them suddenly speaks, making him jump slightly. Haruka regains his focus and sees that it was one of the few – approximately four - male workers who had addressed him; he has brown hair and happy, green eyes. Haruka also notices that he’s smiling at him, they all are, and this boy is the only one who looks remotely close to his own age.

“You’re our new boss?” One of the women asks him, all Haruka can think to do is nod dumbly, she smiles fondly back at him, “An improvement to say the least.”

“Uhm,” Another girl, younger than the other, creeps her way out of the crowd, twisting her hair awkwardly around her finger, “I don’t mean to be blunt, but are you – are we keeping our jobs?”

For a moment, he doesn’t reply, he hadn’t even thought about that, but it makes sense that it’s a concern of theirs. For all they knew Haru could have decided to knock the entire place down and build an apartment block instead, but that’s not his plan. His plan is to keep things the same.

“Huh? Oh, yes, of course you are!” Haruka assures them, feeling oddly warm at how they all sigh in relief and grin broadly at him, one of the men offers him his fist and Haruka bumps it awkwardly.

After a while, Haruka begins to feel awkward amongst the talking, bustling crowd. Practically unnoticed, he slips the keys from his pocket and works his way through numerous conversations, opening the door and stepping inside. He at least wants to see what he’s working with.

Not a lot, it would seem.

The building has no windows, only brightly coloured neon lights that hum insistently when Haruka flicks the switch on the wall. The main room has many tables and not enough chairs scattered around and there’s a bar to his far right, the overpowering smell of dust, damp and… something he can’t quite place has Haruka frowning, folding his arms as he silently muses about his options.

“You don’t like it?” A voice asks behind him, Haruka all but jumps out of his skin, whipping around to see the boy who greeted him earlier had followed him inside.

“It’s not that…” Haruka mumbles, both embarrassed about his obvious fear but relieved his company hadn’t commented on it, “May I ask what exactly this business… is?”

The other’s brows come together in confusion, “Y-You don’t know?”

“No. I was given it this morning. I didn’t even know my uncle, let alone what he did.” Haruka is trying his best to remain firm; he is this guy’s boss after all, but he can’t deny how frantic he’s becoming at the mere notion of all this.

“A-Ah, well, I guess,” he waits patiently as the brunet worries his lip between his teeth and his large hands fumble with the hem of his shirt, “you could say it’s… a place to entertain men, I guess…”

Haruka wasn’t born yesterday. It takes a measly three seconds for him to work out the other’s cryptic description and realise this is, for lack of a better phrase, a gentleman’s club. However, he is still at a loss for words, this was the last thing he expected his family to be involved in, though it would explain the downtown location, lack of windows and the majorly female staff. Haruka assumes that this boy and the other three men outside must be bartenders or something of that nature.

Suddenly, he’s not sure if he can handle this line of work.

“I-Is that a problem?” The boy asks gently, he sounds timid and not at all confident to work in this type of business. 

“No, no, not at all.” Haruka half lies, “I just think I need to change a few things,” he rubs at his temples for a moment, before looking back up, “I’m sorry, what’s your name?”

The boy beams, though the raven isn’t sure why, “Makoto!”

Haruka nods, “Right, Makoto, I need you to tell the others outside that this place is going to be shut until the end of the month…”

“E-Eh? Why?” Makoto asks, instantly clapping his hands over his mouth, as though the question and ‘talking back’ to his boss had happened accidentally. Haruka pays it no mind.

“I’m going to change a few things about this place, your jobs are still safe and you’ll still be in the same line of work… just differently.” Haruka is unsure why he’s suddenly spilling everything out to this person he’s just met, but Makoto nods, like he’s approving Haruka’s plans before turning and heading back outside to explain things. Haruka would have done it himself, but it was quite the bombshell they probably didn’t want to hear from a complete stranger or a privileged snobby graduate. Besides, if Makoto was willingly to obey all of Haruka’s commands, who was he to complain?

With a deep sigh, Haruka begins to stroll around the place. He reasons nothing needs building or fixing, it merely needs a new lick of paint and a good dusting. The raven cringes when his foot sticks to the floor a little when he’s walking, alright, that needs replacing too and maybe it would be wise to purchase furniture with less stains, too.

This suddenly became a lot of work, but if he’s suddenly going to work in the adult entertainment industry, he’s at least going to do it with a bit of class and taste.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Makoto is back, stood just in front of the door. Haruka isn’t sure how long he’s been there, however, he seems to be waiting with all the patience in the world.

“How did they take it?” Haruka asks, he’d be a liar if he said he wasn’t apprehensive.

“Hm? Oh! They were fine with it! They said just give them a call when you want them back,” His relief must be clear on his face as Makoto is chuckling softly. “They’re really nice people, all of them! I promise.”

“Thank you for doing that.”

“Ah, it’s no problem, Mr. Nanase!” Haruka falters, unused to being addressed in such a way, he coughs awkwardly into his fist and looks back at Makoto, nodding firmly.

“You’ll be coming back at the end of the month too, right?” He asks, unsure what type of conversation to start, Makoto stares back at him like he’s crazy,

“Of course! I need this job…” for a moment, the brunet looks crestfallen but he’s quick to look back at Haruka, grinning once more, “I’m really happy you’re keeping us all here!” Personally, Haruka cannot see the appeal in bartending, but it’s clearly the brunet’s livelihood.

“A-Actually, Mr. Nanase,” Haruka practically bristles this time, he really cannot get used to such a title, “I was wondering if I could help…”

“Help?” Makoto nods frantically, wringing his hands in what Haruka deems to be a nervous habit.

“Help you... decorate this place, I could always lift stuff a-and I don’t mind doing it, really!”

“You’d do that? Off your own back?” Haruka cannot begin to imagine why somebody would spend a paid month off painting and decorating this old dusty place, not that Makoto looks like the type of person to have an ulterior motive. Haruka’s always found himself to be an excellent judge of character.

“Yes!” Makoto clears his throat, “Y-Yes, it’s no problem…”

Haruka folds his arms and quirks a brow. “Why?” He’s not going to refuse the other; his curiosity just will not let this lie.

To his surprise, Makoto giggles, the noise stifled slightly by the hand he covers his mouth with, but it’s a giggle nonetheless. A happy, bubbling noise that crinkles the corner of his eyes and brightens his smile even more.

“Why not?”

Well, who was Haruka to argue with such flawless logic?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HATE SETTING THE SCENE/FIRST CHAPTERS ugh i can't write them and they always seem really ... dull
> 
> but hopefully they'll get longer and better from here.  
> ...  
> yes haru thinks makoto is a bartender when in fact he's actually ... well, you'll see~
> 
> damn you, maki...
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/gagareki) // [my beautiful beta](http://ariannemartellz.tumblr.com/)


	2. scarlet

Eventually, they part ways. But, not before Haruka tells Makoto, numerous times, that this will be serious work, that they have a deadline that must be met and Haruka will want him here everyday, all day. None of this seems to even sway the brunet an inch, he nods along merrily, fringe bouncing and eyes shining, he somewhat reminds Haruka of a puppy, but he feels it’s too odd of a comparison to actually say out loud.

“Tomorrow. Nine a.m..” Haruka tells him again, watching as Makoto finishes tapping his number into his phone. He feels as though he’s given the other enough chances to back out, though with the commitment in the other’s eyes, he doesn’t feel he’s going to be let down. 

“Tomorrow. Nine a.m.!” Makoto echoes, grinning as he hands Haruka’s phone back to him, “Even earlier if you want me to, just call!”

Haruka quirks a brow at him, “That really won’t be necessary, nine is fine.” Then, from seemingly nowhere, Makoto is laughing. Not a quiet chuckle or an outright, boisterous howl, but a sincere, rich laugh that hastily disappears into the late afternoon air. 

“I was joking, Mr. Nanase.”

Heat swipes across ivory cheeks and Haruka is quick to busy himself, focusing on shoving his phone back into his pocket rather than look at Makoto. How foolish! The joke wasn’t aimed at him, it was an opportunity for them to share a joke together and he’d gone and took it all far too literally, again.

Oddly enough, it’s Makoto that apologises.

“Sorry, there’s a time and a place for jokes, right? Especially with my new boss.” There’s a twinge of seemingly real fear in Makoto’s viridian no irises, as though he truly fears his playful nature will get him into trouble. Does he fear that Haruka would fire him? Treat him unfairly? 

Does he fear Haruka?

The raven opens his mouth, desperate to quell the other’s concerns - whatever they may be - and tell him that Haruka is new to this position of power and how he too is unsure how to act around anybody he’s met at the club today. He wants to tell Makoto not to treat him any differently and as long as the brunet isn’t rude or outright offensive - though, Haruka senses this guy doesn’t have a bad bone in his body - then Haruka doesn’t really care how he acts.

Sadly though, none of this is said as no sooner does he apologise, Makoto is checking his own phone, he mumbles something about missing his train before looking back at Haruka, with a final smile and a bright wave, the brunet turns and jogs in the opposite direction to which Haruka would be heading. 

A breath rushes from between fine lips and the raven is surprised to feel his muscles relax and unwind. He’s unsure why he was so tense, but he is relieved that none of his previous, frantic thoughts had actually been voiced to his staff member. 

In hindsight, they all sounded vulnerable and silly. Haruka had never been an open book, even his own parents had to pry information out of him, so why was he suddenly so willing to divulge streams thoughts and feelings to somebody he’d met two hours ago?

The day had been a whirlwind and Haruka still wasn’t a hundred percent certain that it had happened, regardless, he’s not ashamed to admit that at the ripe age of twenty three he wants nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep, despite the fact that it’s only seven p.m.. 

Though, he knows that is impractical and now that he’s a boss and suddenly has a business under his belt, he can’t afford to slack off and ignore things. How irritating.

The rest of his night consists of what seems to be never ending phone calls. He orders this and asks permission for that, confirming that and asks for this. 

It’s only after Haruka apologises for the short notice, something he feels he’s done a million times tonight, does he hang up the phone. The screen of which illuminates his dark room, neon green numbers inform him that it’s almost midnight.

With weary bones and the disappointing realisation he doesn’t even have time for a bath, Haruka drags himself to bed, his feet barely lifting off the floor to take dignified, human steps.

He doesn’t sleep well.

In truth, he barely sleeps at all. His mind is plagued with all the things that could go wrong and the numerous consequences that would follow each failure, yet, deep in the back of his mind there’s a faint buzzing, a slight whirl of excitement that he cannot deny or fight.

Besides, he’s not doing this completely alone, he has his parents support … and he has this Makoto kid, too.

***

Haruka races from the train station, arriving at the - his club at a very tardy 9:45am. 

Despite the short run, his lungs burn and his face is flushed, he can’t seem to catch his breath. He’s unsure whether he is actually this unfit, or if he’s just mortified that he’s the boss and he’s the one who’s late on the very first day. 

As expected, Makoto is there, leaning against the wall, he seems to be playing some sort of game on his phone. 

“Nine am,” Makoto says, without looking up, “sharp.” Only then does he glance up, he’s smirking at him, but this time Haruka sees the obvious teasing and tries his best to play along.

“Yes, well,” he wets his dry lips and puts his hands on his hips, arching backwards in a stretch to act casual. However, it seems that was the only comeback his mind could conjure up and he slumps forward again, the brunet looks down at him, smiling fondly and Haruka is able to laugh breathlessly back. 

“Did I miss the delivery?” That would be the icing on the cake of a crap morning, it had taken Haruka every ounce of negotiation he had to get so much paint delivered on short notice. Haruka hated to put people out the best of times, he recalls how his face had burned in shame despite the firm tone he was using to make such demands. 

“Hm? Oh! No! It came and I, uh,” Makoto began to do that hand-wringing thing again, “I signed for it...” His hands stop twisting around each other to make a sweeping gesture on the concrete around him. It’s only then does Haruka notice the multitude of paint cans around the other’s feet.

Haruka sighs. Thank God for that. 

“I know it should have been your signature,”

“Huh?” The raven looks from paint to his company.

“To sign for this stuff, but I thought you’d really want it and the guy was threatening to take it back - I knew you were coming, but he wouldn’t wait-.”

“Makoto,” Haruka steps forward, slipping the keys from his pocket as he does so, “It’s fine, that really helped me out, thank you.” 

The shorter boy can practically see some sort of weight being lifted from Makoto’s shoulders. 

“Well,” Haruka clears his throat and busies himself with opening to door, “we’re already behind schedule, come on.”

“I-It’s just us?” He hears Makoto ask as he steps inside,

“Yes.” Haruka calls back out to him, before returning to prop the door open with a stool he found inside, “It’s not worth the money or earache of dealing with professionals. I was going to get my dad to help, but you offered.” Haruka straightens, clapping his hands together to rid them of whatever filth that stool was harbouring.

“Oh.” 

Haruka frowns, “Is there something wrong? I can still get my father, you don’t have-.”

“No! No! I don’t mind helping, really! I want to help, remember?” And before Haruka can doubt him or argue further, Makoto is piling paint cans into his arms, impressively, he manages four. 

“Mr. Nanase, where do you want these?” 

“Huh?” Haruka was too busy trying to work out how Makoto’s spine wasn’t snapping, that he hadn’t heard him speak the first time, “Oh! Just inside somewhere.”

There’s a pause.

“Haruka.” 

Makoto stops beside him, brow quirked, “Huh?”

“My name is Haruka. I’m only twenty-three, Mr. Nanase is my dad, besides, things would move a lot quicker this way.”

“Haruka.” Makoto tested the name with caution, but when lightning didn’t strike him down dead for saying it, he smiled, speaking again with more confidence, “Haruka.” 

Haruka could think of nothing but to shake his head and smile slightly at the way the other marvelled his name, then he bent down to retrieve some of the paint cans himself, slightly disheartened to realise he could only manage two on his own. 

With all the paint inside, though it didn’t take long with Makoto carrying ridiculous amounts at a time, Haruka could actually start working. 

“The new furniture is coming next week,” the raven muses aloud, knawing slightly on the side of his finger as his mind works, “so, if I just move this stuff out back, it’s out of sight and out of mind.” 

“Move this?” Makoto’s suddenly asking him, hands on hips as he surveys the room.

“Yeah, just put it-.”

“Out back?” The brunet grins, having clearly heard and took to heart everything Haruka had been mumbling about. 

“Yeah.” For a moment, Haruka seems lost, before he settles on stacking two chairs together, this way would certainly speed things up, if only slightly. 

“Leave that to me,” Makoto tells him, and Haruka turns to see that the other has jumped in right at the deep end, hauling a table up against his chest with ease, “both of us going in and out that door with tables and stuff would just be clumsy and slow us down.” He smiles, even walking steadily despite the weight he holds, “I don’t mind.” 

Haruka cannot deny he’s grateful, “Thanks, Makoto.” The brunet heads towards the door, before he stopped by Haruka’s voice again, “There’s a basement here, right?” 

“Uh-huh! Just behind the bar.” he gestures with his head before sidestepping out, keeping both himself and the table intact, and heading around the back. 

The broader boy clearly doesn’t need Haruka to stand around and supervise him, he’s adapted to this even quicker than Haruka has, but he does have an advantage. With a clap, he allows himself a small, proud smile before heading towards the bar. 

Surprisingly, the basement is bare, it houses a few barrels of alcohol and nothing more. Though, it smells of dust and the artificial, sickly yellow light is giving Haruka a headache, still, he walks to the back of the room and looks around, reasoning that he can practically leave this room untouched. Before he leaves azure eyes catch sight of multiple cardboard boxes stacked up against the far wall, after finding them empty, he bundles several into his arms and takes them back upstairs with him. 

Stopping for a moment at the top, he watches Makoto leave again, this time with a stack of four chairs in his arms. 

He feels as though he’s wasted enough time now and he really should actually start doing some work, he kicks the door to the basement closed and gets down on his knees, reviewing the collection of drinks and glassware his uncle had acquired for this place. 

However, he found none of sanitary … or in good taste, and he’d much rather remove it all and start from scratch then rummage through it all and find a glass without stains and alcohol that didn’t glow. So, one by one he plucked items from their shelves behind the bar and disposed them in the boxes, careful to keep them all in one piece. 

Haruka was desperately trying to grab a glass that had rolled underneath the shelves when Makoto popped his head over the top of the bar. 

“Having fun?” He asked, smiling. Haruka let out an amused huff and brushed his hair of his forehead for a moment, it must have been at least noon now and the heat was starting to get to him, he’d already tossed his jacket onto the bar long ago, whilst he understood and respected why this place had no windows, he still found it very impractical. 

“I can’t get this glass,” he confesses with a slight pout, 

“I got it!” Makoto is quick to offer his services, dropping to the floor beside Haruka, “I have longer arms.” Though the fact is pretty obvious, he announces it proudly and reaches where his boss directs him. His arm slides back out only seconds later, glass in hand.

“Thanks, toss it in that box.” Makoto complies and Haruka can see the heat is getting to him just as badly, perhaps even worse with all the heavy lifting the other had done and at the speed he’d done it. 

“You want these boxes going out back, too?” The taller boy looks at him, sweat has dampened his hair a little and sticks it to his forehead slightly.

“Uh, yeah,” Haruka answers honestly, before quickly adding, “But you can take a break if you want. We’ve gotten a lot done already, there’s no rush.” 

Makoto makes a face at him, looking at Haruka as though the mere notion of a break was crazy and Haruka was just as crazy for suggesting it.

“Nah, I’m fine, really!” And with the speed he’s back on his feet, the raven can see he’s not lying. Makoto reaches for the first box before spying Haruka’s jacket on the bar top and from his position on the floor, Haruka can see him staring at it before there’s a swift movement and Makoto is dropping his shirt beside it. 

“Better?” Haruka asks, a lilt of amusement in his tone as he watches Makoto let out what seems to be a sigh of relief, Makoto looks down at him and grins, clearly happy to not be confined under the stuffy fabric anymore.

“Better.” The brunet lifts one of the boxes as though it was full of nothing but air, he rests it comfortably and safely on his bare shoulder, before leaving with it. 

Haruka gets back on his feet, dusting his knees and hands clean as he does. Curiously, he knocks against another one of the boxes with his foot, only to find it’s quite heavy and he would probably need both hands, and to take a break, before he could move it out back, unlike Makoto. 

Makoto.

The guy who’d been afraid to call Haruka by his name only a few hours ago, but was now stripping in front of him with ease. Not that Haruka minded, of course, the last thing he needed was a member of his staff dying from heat exhaustion and besides, as much as Haruka wanted to turn this place into something classier he wasn’t a total prude. 

Haruka probably would have removed his own shirt for comfort if it wasn’t Makoto’s defined muscles and golden skin he was competing with. Being just jacketless was fine. 

Shaking his head, Haruka headed over to the far wall, picking up a paint can and brush on the way.

“Makoto,” he called over his shoulder, without looking, 

Makoto stopped in the doorway as he was leaving with the final box, “Yeah, Haruka?”

“You sure you don’t want a break?”

“I’m sure, I’m good, really!”

“Good.” He looks back at the brunet, “We’re not leaving until this whole place is painted.” It was hardly a difficult task, at least not with two of them, but Makoto’s face lit up with the idea of a challenge, he grinned.

“Got it.” He gives a mock salute to Haruka and leaves.

***

“Oi!” Makoto laughs, jabbing the handle of his paintbrush playfully into Haruka’s ribs, he barely touches him, but the raven still jerks away.

“What?” Haruka asks him, replacing the last patch of horrible, old purple with a fresh, clean coat of scarlet. 

“You’re on my side!” Oh, that’s right, after they finished the second wall Makoto had allocated them ‘sides’ to paint. Haruka had shrugged and accepted, though it was funny watching Makoto keep specifically to his side when he was just painting anywhere that needed paint. 

Whether Haruka was painting his side or not, they’d finally finished. 

The smaller of the two dropped his brush back into the can of paint, before scrubbing his hands over his face. 

“I really like this colour,”

“Hm?” Haruka peeks between his fingers to see Makoto looking round, seemingly in awe and mumbling to himself.

“O-Oh!” He blushes and scrubs the back of his neck, “This colour you picked, the red, I like it! Makes the room a lot brighter and…” Makoto makes a weird gesture with his hands, before laughing, “It’s really great, Haruka!”

“Ah, thank you…” Haruka wants to tell him that he probably had an eye for this stuff, seeing as he’s something of an artist in his spare time, but he didn’t, he just took the compliment for what it was.

Suddenly, Haruka is frowning at the taller boy, absently picking dried paint off his palms. “Makoto,”

“Yeah?” 

“Did you paint yourself as well as the walls?” For a second, Makoto doesn’t seem to follow before looking down, instantly spotting the red streaks all over his bare chest and arms.

“Oh my God,” he mumbles, before looking up horrified for a moment, then he’s bursting into laughter. Haruka chews on the inside of his cheek slightly, but it’s futile and he’s soon laughing along with the brunet, a lighter more subdued noise, but a laugh all the same. 

“You’re one to talk!” Makoto points at him, 

“I have paint on my hands, Makoto! That’s understandable! You look - you look sunburned!” Haruka splutters around the words, his cheeks starting to ache from the grinning and laughter, both of which are spurred on when Makoto looks back at himself, still in shock, before clapping a hand over his face and groaning.

“I’m such an idiot.” Makoto whines, but he’s still laughing, “Don’t laugh, Haruka!” 

“Sorry, I’m sorry. I’m really grateful for your help painting the walls,” he smiles as Makoto, who relaxes his shoulders and smiles back, “...and yourself.”

“Haruka!” Makoto pouts, but he’s quick to react, swiping a finger through the damp paint on his chest and then brushing it across Haruka’s cheek. “Now we’re even.”

Haruka freezes, completely at a loss for what to say or do. He wasn’t angry or upset, after all, they were having fun, he was having fun. It just stunned him how quickly they had moulded into each other’s company, he had a feeling under the wringing hands and stuttered words Makoto was actually a lot of fun, and could become a good friend. And he wasn’t wrong. 

“Alright,” he breathes out, looking up at the other with a fresh, red smear across his face, “we’re even.” 

The raven closes his eyes and begins to wipe away the paint around his lids and temple, still smiling after the earlier exchange. 

“Here.” Haruka opens his eyes to see Makoto handing him a rag they found in basement, “It’s too late for me,” he jokes, “save yourself.”

Haruka fights back his smile at the stupid comment, not giving the other the satisfaction that his stupid, dramatic joke was actually funny, he purses his lips and takes the offered item. 

“Thanks.” Haruka scrubs at his face, trying to wipe off the paint without rubbing it in,

“I should head home,” He hears Makoto say, and when he’s cleaned his face he sees the brunet picking his shirt up off the bar, “I hope people can tell this is paint and not blood.” He makes an exaggerated, worried face in Haruka’s direction, but slips his shirt on all the same, it covers the mess on his chest, but his arms are still a glaring scarlet.

Oh well, there’s nothing either of them can do.

“Is it last train to your place, or something?” Haruka asks, heading over the collect his jacket, dropping the rag as he walks.

“I don’t get the train, I live in downtown.”

“Oh, well, uh,” Haruka kneads his shoulder nervously, heavily contemplating his next move, “you have time for a… drink?

“A drink?”

“Yeah, I mean, I haven’t paid you for anything you did today.”

“I don’t want to be paid!” Makoto corrects him, eyes bright.

“Right, but still, I feel bad. The least I could do is buy you a drink, if you want…” Trying to act like he doesn’t care, though he’s unsure why this answer really matters to him, Haruka shrugs his jacket on and focuses on fastening the zipper.

“That sounds great, Haruka. I’d love that.” Makoto stuffs his hands in his jeans pockets and leaves, kicking the stool that had been holding the door open all day out of the way, but keeping the door open for Haruka.

“Great,” Haruka nods, slipping under Makoto’s arm and locking the door, he can tidy the place up when he comes back, he’s going to all but live here for the next month, anyway. “Uh, you’re the one who lives here, know anywhere good?” Haruka puts the keys away and turns, finding Makoto has already began walking away.

“I know a place and I’m pretty sure they don’t mind their clientele being covered in paint.” 

Haruka smirks, jogging to catch up with the taller boy.

“Great, lead the way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> unbeta'd atm!
> 
> thank you for the awesome feedback on chapter one, holy wow.
> 
> <3
> 
> [4 maki]


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